Approx. 250 "Junior 10" / F2's
In
this section you can see the cars of Albert Wardle, Keith Barber,
Grant Ford, Brian Wilcox, Johnny Marquand, Ralph Bruce, Dave
Chisholm, Eddie Cunnew, Bill Batten, Andy Webb, Brian Jones,
Doug Wardropper, Dick Sworder, Chick Woodroffe, Danny Bassett,
Pete Tucker, anonymous "637" and "370",
Dave Gibson, Johnny Walker, Pete Vincent, Den Rothwell, Dick
Hawkins, Johnny Allen, Alan Russell, Gordon Aucott, Dick Young,
Brian Holmes, Norman Ricketts, Ken Horne, Mick Whitney, Roy
Innocent, Peter Baines, Jim Welch, John Bush, Nigel Harradine,
Johnny Sparks, Nick Edwards, and Dick Willows.
Tough
little racers for not much money Unlike
the fortunate Senior F1 brigade whose names and numbers have been
meticulously recorded by John Greenwood, Mike Greenwood and Granville
Holmes, from BSCDA archivese, the Junior 10's / F2 cars have no
official listing that I know of. So, from programmes and a few
close-up photographs I have typed up a list of 200+ Junior racers, in
numerical order, with the driver's name and home town if known. I
have not recorded the years they were registered. In the early
years, registered numbers moved very rapidly among new and departing
drivers. Here is a link to my Word file, updated August 2010.
Look for the labels --- they may be scattered randomly throughout the page. August 2010 note: here I am giving credit to do-it-yourself budget racers, on
this labour-of-love nonprofit website where everything has been donated
free by kind fans, and someone is snagging the photos and selling them on eBay ---.
September 2010: Jack Kitchen #750
was a stylist; see his trademark opposite-lock arms and elbows as he
throws his car into the corners. Today at 81, Jack can look back
on six years of racing, 1967-72, followed by a spell of scrutineering.
With his son Tony, who sent the following photos, he rarely
missed a meeting and still stays in touch with some of the old bunch.
On parade: Jack Kitchen 1 in an 'old-school' car; and Jack Kitchen 2., riding his low-slung cut-n-shut special. Jack cutting up the inside of #742, Martin Brand from Whaplode, Lincs. Neck and neck with 01, who might be Chick W. Jack demonstrates his right-hand-down-a-bit inside Howard White's 627 car. Crunch goes the old-school car into a fence. Flat-out spraying shale in his Topo-bodied car. Ouch, as Jack exits his overturned car --- at Mendip maybe?
August 2010: Action at three tracks in 1970-71, thanks to Kevin Crabtree ----- "Brafield Bashing" has cars 593 Pete Coppenhall in a tangle with 696 Brian Priddle and 604 Norman Ricketts. Then 609 Walter Breakspear upside down. Then the whole gang piles in: 692 is J. Harris with 603 Norman Pavelin. Ian Chisholm's 632 car does it right. John Holley 554
leads 573 and 693 Alan Young, all drifting neatly out of turn 4 facing
Brafield's shady grandstand. Completely sideways, 672 waits while 593 Pete Coppenhall checks his pedals, and 703 Bernard Haynes escapes. Two similar Topo specials dice it out: John Lynes 684 leads 645 Dave Langridge. Derek Payne takes his hands off the wheel (short sleeves, bare hands) in his #733. Not much stock tin left on Chris Heath's #724. [ten years before, that was Texan Dick Hawkins's number]
"Mendip Mangling" has cars 609 and 696 re-appearing, with 721 Brian Hook. high on that lovely west country range of hills. Then Ron Slogget 606 battles with Ian Illman 784; and lastly Roy Goodman chases Mick Whittle 716. Mendip Raceway really flourished with the West Country upsurge of Junior/F2in the 1970's: --- and again the fans turn their backs on that panoramic view in the background, to watch #685 scoot past a pileup involving 646 [Eddie Asling?], 597 Bernie Perry, and 573.
"Ringwood Wrecking" has old pals Ray Lines 613 leaping a barrel while his buddy George Kneller 612 stays clear; and Tony Meaden 544 spins with Brian Smith 751. Johnny Walker in his beautiful #629 special. "Every which way but loose", as Mike Gale 567 spins free of 675 Terry Trew, 663 Pete Jones, and 611 Nick Edwards.
August 2010: An
exception to my usual "BriSCA-only" scope, here are two photos of the
late Leslie Hobbs, who raced Spedeworth all over the South-East in the
early 1970's. Leslie's son Graham kindly sent me these
photos a couple of years back, and I lost in my files until today!
Leslie's long-bonnet #111 car, and shown again here with sons Graham
and Russell, was once found handy as an "elves float" in a local
Christmas parade. Graham Hobbs recalls as a youngster the
dominant presence of the great "Foxy" Dance at most races, and that
eternal Swingin' Safari theme tune over the Tannoy.
August 2010: Panoramic
photo of an unusual kind of race --- Brafield's management loved
novelty, and so did the crowds -- what is wrong with this 1963
Junior F2 race? Above you can just see the #230 car of Johnny Allen
from New Cross in this "Wrong-way-round Race", whose aim was to confuse
and entertain the racers and the spectators! Johnny Allen
coincidentally can be seen helping out in the photo
below from the same anonymous donor, a fine tangle between 711
and 675 Terry Trew:
August 2010: The Boston, Lincs track is alas no more, but here is Trevor Webb #318, very pleased with his chequered flag. Photo from William Smith collection.
July 2010: Big thanks to Kevin Crabtree
for a HUGE
collection of about 150 photos taken at Newton Abbot, Smeatharpe, Mendip
Raceway, and one at Plymouth's Pennycross Stadium, between 1970 and 1976 by Kevin using this trusty old
"Brownie Box" camera:
Kevin
was already spectating at Newton Abbot's track by the age of 13, and
later started racing F2's under the sponsorship of his father's
electrical engineering company, though Kevin himself went into the
motor trade, eventually at a major Rover (later Mazda)
dealership in Torquay. Ready? We'll start with 1970 (and where noted, August 1972 photos) pit photos from Newton Abbot, in numerical order of registered racing
number, and IMPORTANT: if you happen to know any of these drivers, I am always happy to hear more info: spratton@hotmail.com
- 507 is Bernard House's blue top from St. Austell; here he is in August 1972 in his Goodman-built car.
- 508 is the red top of Harry Collins, a haulage contractor from Launceston ('70)
- 516 is red top Keith Knott from Truro ('70)
- 528
from Salisbury is the very business-like special of Johnny Pomeroy: and
another of his cars below; no, it's not a funnel on his roof, that's the power station's cooling
tower.
- 538 is Pete Weekes, then a mechanic from Newton Abbot.
- 547 is Bill Goldthorpe's Mini-bodied racer
- 549 is yellow top Neil Johnson from Plymouth ('70)
- 552 Dashing Dave Chisholm, soon to be world champ in F1
- 554 is John Holley, a flooring contractor from Fordingbridge, Hants. below:
 - 554 again, in April 1972, still a red top, John Holley.
- 554 John Holley himself [BriSCA Annual]
- 562 is another red top, Richard Doidge ('70)
- 563 is Dennis Harris's blue top (Aug 1972)
- 564 is Rory Wheeler, looking very un-chuffed in his car!
- 565 is Walter Bovey, the bearded farmer from St. Austell, and again here.
- 566 is Terry Harris's yellow top.
- 567 is Mike Gale's blue top, pitted next to Howard White
- 572 on the trailer is St Austell blue-top Reg Hawkin
- 584 is red top Selwyn Pook, another red-top Cornishman ('70)
- 599 is Brian Mills, C grade
- 602 is Ted White's blue top (Aug 1972)
- 607 is another C grade, Norman Butcher
- 611 is red-top ('70) Nick Edwards
- 611 Nick again, but two years later on with a blue roof and we have to say a 'basic' body.
- 613 is Ray Lines
from Southampton and his buddy George Kneller ('70) Ray became
promoter at Weymouth's Radipole Lane track in about 1973, and George's
son Gary Kneller earned pocket money by selling Stock Car Magazine and
programmes there. Ray joined the Veterans in more recent years, and his
son races F2's today. Thanks to Gary Kneller for this background.
- 613 Ray Lines again, in April 1972
- 627 the famous Howard White, red top from St. Albans. In April 1972, Howard again in a Higman car.
- 627 Howard White, from the BriSCA Annual of 1973
- 631, from Plymouth, and looking like his blue-top tangled with the Spanish Armada, is Brian Glynn.
- but in August 1972, #631 was worn by C grader Derek Groves.
- 632 in August 1972 is white topper Pete Snell
- 635 in August 1972 is white-topper Nick Coles
- 639 is Bodmin racer Brian Sanders
- 642 is Pete Poole from Bedford.
- 651, one of the racers who moved F2 design forward, Billy Batten from Liskeard, below:

- 655, John Peet takes a break in the sun.
- 657 is Steve Branstom, showing some neat 'wedge' sheet metal mods
- 661 blue topper in 1972 is today's Heritage racer Dave Wycherley
- 662 is Mick Avery
- 663 is Pete Jones
- 665 is Roy Hinton from Swindon
- 671, and another wonderful Cornish name, Denzil Trennery from Newquay
- 673 on track is Tony Slocombe chased by 704 Pete Vincent; and here's Pete Vincent again
- 673 another shot of Tony, who was from Chudleigh
- 677 is Austin Travail
- brothers Cliff (688) and Gordon (687) Maidment, from Southampton
- 689, a well-liked character, a world champ who raced for many years, the great Johnny Marquand of Notter Bridge
- 691 Nat Barkwell customized his bodywork this way, and that way. Nat was from Dunchideock, [pop. 262] and there's a prize if you can pronounce that.
- 692 is the compact little special of Charles Williamson, and that exhaust trumpet must have sounded good: below:
 - but two years later, 692 was worn by yellow top Vic Jackson
- 703 is Bernard Haynes,
who also hammered that then-popular wedge in the Topolino roof ---
although if you were careful with your paint line, you could mimic a
Topo roofline on other bodies.
- 705 is Keith Trennery, brother of Denzil
- 708 is Geoff Brown from Paignton
- 716 is Mick Whittle from Hinckley
- 734 is Eddie Cunnew, son of pioneer Ted Cunnew of the famousCunnew clan from Keysoe, Beds.
- 734 again, as a blue top in summer 1971 at Newton Abbot; Eddie at one time raced under 727.
- 739 is Torquay's Brian Thompson
- 735, nicknamed "Wiggy", is red top Cecil Bennett from Millbrook; and here he is in summer 1971 with a blue roof
- 743 is Andy White, a White-top!
- 744 is Roger Hollingshead, wearing a red-top in his borrowed Goodman car
- 745 is Steve Brown in 1972, with a yellow top beauty
- 746, also in August 1972, is yellow top George Powell.
- 752, next number in line, is Mick Blake sitting in his blue top
- 753 is Victor Whittingham --- was the roof 'wedge' there to cover the roll bar, or was it a fashion?
- 755 is Bob Turton's Ford bodied car
- 760 is Dave Symes from Gosport
- 770 is Martin Farrell [1970 photo] from Bristol and Plymouth, and again later:
 Moving
on to 1971/2 and 1976, Kevin returned to Newton Abbot and found these guys ready for action,
again in numerical order of racing number:
- 155
is a strange number (Gary Kneller's comment) for a Junior F2 --- and it
had a non-standard roof colour, and fairly massive rear tires for a
Junior, --- AND a very non standard exhaust worthy of a Land Rover
Defender. Anyway, that's Alan Paine. Anyone know more about this mystery car's setup?
- 519 is Ralph Bruce, who also raced at Brafield against Dave Chisholm in F2
- 528 from Bristol, shown below, is Eric Weeks's handsome chunky car.
 - 529 is Jeff Brown's white top, with the exhaust blackening the Topo body.
- 531 belongs to farmer Nick Prouse
- 533 is a great atmospheric photo of a low-slung racer, alone in the landscape; Clive Wilcox
- 535 is Ray Williams (one of three racing brothers) from Southampton ---
- and 546 is Mike Williams from Callington [no relation]
- 557 is Neil Middle from Taunton, and here he is again with the low "ground effects" body and chassis.
- 560 is Ray Johnston's radically narrowed and sectioned Ford Pop
- 570 is Mike Archer from Barnstaple, and here is Mike's Topolino again.
- 579 is Roger Butt's mini based yellow top
- 582 shown below is Barry Moore, draughtsman and postman from Ipplepen, Devon:
 - 583 is Dave Brown from Looe, and, wait for it ---
- one month later Dave takes the World Final checkers! Dave followed the unusual trade of wig making.
- 588 from Barnstaple is "Tiny" [Martin] Saunders
- 591 is Dave Hill from Torquay, with friends; what you'd have to call your basic tin bashing job
- 592 is Jerry Williams, brother of Mike, from Callington, in Cornwall
- 594 is Rodney Avon's white top; new bodywork, modern inclined shicks, interesting rad protection; no dents yet!
- 597 is Bernie Perry's mini with a thoroughly-hammered bonnet
- 599 is the car of C grader Roger Legge, sporting an inverted airfoil on the roof
- 600 is the beautiful car of Bournemouth's Tony Norton and again from 1970.
- 602 is Ted White's C grade car
- 603 is Norman Pavelin's yellow top on the trailer
- 612 below is George Kneller's
full-bodied Topolino, from Southampton, below. George, a motor
mechanic, raced from the very beginning of Junior F2's, under #712, in
a Y model Ford, which he sold on to John Searle from Hythe, nr Southampton, who raced it under 697 at Bristol and Brafield.
George raced at Southampton, Ringwood, Plymouth, Newton Abbot,
St. Austell, Brafield, Rayleigh, Stoke, Swindon, Bristol, and Weymouth,
and retired from racing as a blue-top in 1976. The long drives
towing th stock car wore out two Hillmans, one of which was "recycled"
into an F2 car by the Williams brothers. George's son Gary went
everywhere, he and his broher sleeping in the Minx and dashing around
the pits with a watering can for radiators. George's wife Doreen
did her share of races in the "Powder Puff Derbies" put on by promoters
like Gerry Dommett and John LaTrobe at Swindon, Brafield, and Ringwood.
Doreen took Johnny Marquand's fast car out and won a race,
and was so quick that at Brafield she was handicapped half a lap so
that she came second to Steve Bateman's wife. At 82 years of
age, George Kneller still tinkers with cars, and with buddy Ray Lines
never misses a
Poole Pirates speedway night on Wednesdays --- you can't stop those old
guys. George's son Gary provided this info.
 - 614 is Ray Price's well-proportioned Topolino
- 615 is Ray Courts, from Torpoint, Cornwall
- 616 is the late Ron Sloggett and Trowbidge buddy 675 Terry Trew
- 618 is Stuart Beckenham, Pete Beckenham's brother
- 640 is B-graded Ron Brown
- 653 is Andy Morris, bringing his 'extended' Mini all the way down from Doncaster, and who still racing in 2000.
- 653 again, in 1972, Andy Morris's B grader in Ford Pop clothing and good-sized tires.
- 654 is Steve Hibben; the driver's headgear does not match the helper's summer dress code!
- 657 is Steve Brantom's radically low cut special
- 667 shows Billy Batten's then-blue top car, and a smiling photo of Billy Boy himself [BriSCA Annual]
- 667 Billy gets it sideways at Newton Abbot [BriSCA Annual]
- 668 is Ivor Frost
- 670 is another blue-top, that of John O'Dell, evidently unafraid of the costly Weber twin choke carb swallowing dirt
- 678 was raced by Len Pearce when he wasn't busy signwriting for several top Cornish drivers
- 704 is Pete Vincent, who also raced at Brafield
- 714 appears on two different Adrian Booth cars (1) and (2). Adrian also raced under # 819
- 714 Adrian Booth himself on the left [BriSCA Annual]
- 721 is the Topolino of Brian Hook, who may be the suntanning gent in the background
- 728 is Graham Bunter from Sherborne; and here is Graham's car a few years earlier, at Newton Abbot.
- 731, Gilbert Farr, has his twin carbs free to suck in all the dirt!
- 750 is Jack Kitchen looking rough and tough
- 751 is Brian Smith from Bath (son Gary races today)
- 751 is Brian Smith's chunky-looking red-top in 1970 --- is the boot line a Renault 4CV rather than a Topo?
- 754, in 1970, is Mike Glover from Tavistock
- 755 is David Hart's "not-quite-Topolino
- 763, also in 1970, is Peter Carne, a B-grader
- 765 is Southampton's Nick Falcon with a mixture of Popular bodywork including a cooling tower for its roof ----
- 765 again in April 1972, wearing a pretty basic tin top.
- 766 in 1970 is someone famous in the F1 wars, Tony Allen
- 778 is wizard mechanic and builder Colin Higman from Menheniot. and here is the car that Colin built as a copy of Todd Sweeney's famous Spedeworth special. Here's Colin Higman himself [BriSCA Annual]
- Here's Colin again, a red top back in 1970 at Newton Abbot
- 779 is Chris Chidzey, a neatly-narrowed body fit for a car show. Handsome car.
- 780 is Kelvin Harris looking modern and fast
- 782 in 1970 is white-top Dave Bowden
- 784 also in 1970 is Ian Illman,
star grader buckling up in his Topo, from Heathfield; I recognize
Dunlop SP tyres on the front. 784 again, in 1971, a Mini body
this time, but still a star-grader. (Kevin Crabtree #506, the kind
donor of all these photographs, raced an ex-Illman car in 1975.)
- 794
below is Dave Gibson's "sit-up-straight" blue top; one of the
"Beds & Herts" gang, it appears later on this page at Brafield
under #785.
 - 800 has to be Roy, doesn't it?
St. Austell ---
what with speedway in the early years, the plastic-domed "Eden World"
for eco idealists, and stock cars too, this Cornish riviera town has
been busy. Kevin took some photos there in spring-summer 1971:
Smeatharpe Stadium was later a Roy Goodman development. Three photos:
- 506 is --- handsome shaggy mystery man --- aha, Kevin Crabtree photographer and racer, himself.
- 591 is Robin Pearce's Bunter-built car, beside 553 the car of lanky Cornishman Mike Nancekivell from St. Germans
- might as well see another shot of Mike N's 553, at Newton Abbot in 1970.
- 656 is the Sid Collings [ex-Colin Higman] car
Then, back at Roy Goodman's workshop: 716 Mick Whittle, and 800 Roy's car one more time. And in 1970 at St. Austell, 693 is Allan Young parked next to Roy Godman's 800. Finishing with an old b/w photo of Roy Goodman in 1966 running under 163, and circulating at Plymouth's Pennycross Stadium.
After all those, again, drop me a line if anyone has more info on any of those West Country racers: spratton@hotmail.com Bit
of history about Newton Abbot and those cooling towers you often see in
the background of the photos; For
50 years the skyline of Newton Abbot was dominated by a power station
and its giant cooling towers. Built on Jetty Marsh in 1924, and
demolished in 1975-76, the site is now a nature resereve, though the
old surplus slag is still around and used to level sports pitches, etc. Just call me Mister Wikipedia.
Thanks to Kevin Crabtree, ex-F2 and Heritage racer, for digging up this history; over 100 photos --- my keyboard is smoking.
The South Devon HERALD EXPRESS editor Guy Henderson
describes just one highlight of Trevor Redmond's on-the-ball promoting at Newton
Abbot: some students from nearby language schools began attending
the races there. When quick-thinking Redmond spotted
that the two schools had different colours (red-and-white and
blue-and-white), he had the brilliant idea of encouraging some banger
racers to paint their cars in
one or other colour scheme --- with the result that BUSLOADS of
language students began travelling to the track to cheer on "their"
cars. Today's promoters could take a lesson from that ---.
July 2010: Brafield Bash: #642 Pete Poole from Bedford starts to unbuckle from his wreck, while 66 scoots past. (no F2 name for 66 in my lists, but that signwriting is certainly USAF Ted Janes' trademark and F1 number) Photo from hot-rod champ Gordon Bland.
July 2010: From an anonymous contributor: a panorama of Hednesford Hills [showing clearly the nature of
the old reservoir bowl], their Easter Monday 1963 meeting. I can only
identify the 646 Eddie Asling car, and do not have id's for the others,
but the donor tells me that J838 Frankie Wooster was the winner.
The meet included motorcycle outfits as well as Juniors.
I remembered being quoted 100 pounds for buying a top class
track-ready F2 from a good builder. However, most do-it-yourselfers
spent very little. I've been shown a copy of Mick
Whitney's 1962 expenses, in which he bought himself a
running Ford for £2.10s! E-mail
me with your photos and stories ,
What
a gem. This
early Ford raced the tarmac at Brafield and I snapped the photo in
1963 when Danny Bassett was both National and European points champion. "Juniors", later renamed F2, provided red-hot
racing with side-valve engines and maybe a couple of SU
carbs bolted on. Danny [actual name Dennis] was from
Woolwich, London, a larger-than-life "character" who was always grinning,
and I hear he had done some wrestling too. Danny
was to die tragically in January 1964 in
the English
Channel, with the mysterious loss of the motor yacht "Christine",
sailing at midnight from
Ramsgate. The incident was later the centre of a
legal case over seaworthiness, and a coroner's inquest in Dover, amid
various conflicting stories and gossip in the press about the ill-fated
voyage; not the only time the world of stock car racing has
been touched by whodunnit rumours. March 2010: Forty-six
years on, Danny's niece Linda still remembers him as her "
favourite uncle",
who was known to pals as a loveable rogue,
touring the tracks with his racing buddy Maxie Bacon, also from
Plumstead. Nudge
nudge, I'm sure it ain't true, but: Danny once came to the rescue of a
racer whose Junior 10 axle had sheared, and within a few minutes
produced and fitted a replacement. Danny left the stadium early,
but at the end of the evening, a lone spectator car was seen sitting
axle-less in the parking lot ---- just a coincidence.
Danny's last car went to Eddie Asling, but
his first had appeared at the very beginning: New Cross in April
1954,
alongside his friend Pete Tucker [who, for Linda, autographed a copy of his "Thrill of the Century" with a dedication in memory of Danny]. Along with the national headlines of the Daily Sketch, Linda has kindly sent two touching photos of Danny's headstone, with a typically generous spread of wreaths from the stock car community.
May 2010: Graham
"Tiny" Tabor remembers the carefree days at the Cunnews'
caravan settlement at Keysoe, Beds., noisily located close to the end of the RAF Thurleigh runway,
and a collecting point for racers --- Danny Bassett was one --- converging on Brafield and Coventry.
"Stock car heaven."
Graham has many memories of people helping each other out and
working long and hard to do so, even if they'd been fencing each other
the day before. (Danny Basset's car once had a spare engine
installed in it while it was on a transporter travelling to Brafield,
and was fixed in time for Danny to pick up a 2nd place.) Ted and
Doll Cunnew
were adored by the stock car community for their unhesitating help
and generosity to one and all --- caravans for sleeping, tools and
parts for cars, and mass breakfasts -- Doll sometimes cooking for 30
hungry drivers and mechanics. (Tiny
Tabor had 'grown up around engines' and once built Jaguar engines for
the famous Lister-Jaguar outfit in Cambridge, and later moved to the US
and built
racing engines for NASCAR's Childless Racing team.)
May 2010: a series of then-rare colour photos from 1962 at Brafield: Flippin' 'eck -- those Juniors gave us a lot of light-hearted fun. Turn 1 saw this one flippin' over:

and here below 766's driver Doug Barber is watching 627 on its back and 744 Len Field stalled across the track:  Below,
644 Ron Gaskin from Chertsey, 668 unidentified, 468 American Bud Meyers,
and possibly 409 Woodroffe, all watch another typical "Junior Rollover"
Chick
Woodroffe and Don Roomes ended up with a dead tie in the Brafield
points title; here is their lap of honour before a one-on-one match
race decider --- which Chick won.
"Junior Jam": One reason those terraces were packed on a Sunday was that, with Junior 10's / F2s racing, everyone knew SOMETHING was going to happen on every corner. Happy days. Below:
Roy Goodman 163 (I'm sure the longest career in British stock cars)
being towed. Remember plastic macs? Looking at the crowds in
these photos, over the 48 years since they were taken, --- were
there more "family mums and dads" and grandparents of mature years
than we see at today's races? It was after all a Sunday
afternoon out, including "a nice drive in the car" which was then becoming a pleasant novelty for many people in 1962.

: Pioneers at New Cross. Friday July 20th 1962 saw a big Johnny Hoskins promotion. Fan Graham Cox, who was there that night, kindly scanned the programme, results written in [note: high-resolution, large jpg files]. Front and back covers; pages 2-3 with driver list; pages 4-5 with results; and pages 6-7 points standings and adverts. Oops, look who else was there that night:
Lord
Montague of Beaulieu was part of the New Cross event, and he
completed a few demo laps of the track in his own car. His
lordship did the same at Belle Vue and/or Brandon later on. Ol' Johnny Hoskins was a shrewd promoter and no snob!
April 2010: Bob The Byfield Basher, #98 Bob Laurie shown here is pretty typical fashion in Brafield's first-turn fence. [This was 1962, photo courtesy "Stonemason", a veteran fan who has often helped me build this site. ]
Bob, Brian, and Cecil Laurie were farming brothers from Byfield near
Daventry. Here are two more photos of Laurie's car. Laurie does the dirty deed at Brafield to someone in front of Fred's Hot Dogs. Bob's chickens come home to roost! [photo from USAF driver Ed Bilak, track not identified]. March 2010: From a Summer 1967 Hednesford Hills newsletter, not an F2/Junior, but awfully similar to Danny B's --- it's a pioneering hot-rod with an 1800cc MG motor, and hot rod fans will know who raced under 00 --- Martin Morris, son of promoter Bill Morris (thanks to Trevor Chater who not only recognized the car but watched Martin race it) [scan from David Hughes]
Two Junior racers, and 684 is John Lynes
who took part in a "Stock Car Racing School" at Brafield, described in
the SENIORS IN THE SIXTIES section. The 688 car is Brian Cook, and both photos are from a Brafield programme scanned by Russ Thomas. March 2010 continued: "It's a Small world"
as they say --- just a week or so after loading the John Lynes photo
above, Nigel Harradine (featured just below by pure coincidence)
e-mailed to say that he raced John Lynes's last BriSCA F2 car; Nigel
had known John through work, travelled and helped him out with the
stock car, and eventually took over the car. John Lynes had a
lucky angel even before he raced BriSCA, surviving a massive road crash
that put his steering wheel up to the roof ---. January 2010: Ex-racer Nigel Harradine
is the website's "first-footer" in the new decade, so thanks Nigel for
these Junior F2 snapshots from mid-sixties Brafield. First three
shots from 1965 of Bill Barker 681 getting stuck in (Gordon Aucott somewhere in there), then #230 Johnny Allen who backs out safely, and then Bill escaping as two more cars pile into the mess (163 Roy Goodman, and perhaps that's Chick Woodroffe with him). In a separate incident at the same turn, car #514 of Gordon Fisher clips the RSJ while #756 scoots past, and finally 501 hits the fence.
Hot rods were a new formula in 1965, and unlike today's "cookie
cutter" specials, here we see a Morris Minor, a Lotus Cortina, and a 105E Anglia.
And since Nigel sent those shots of other drivers' cars, here is his 1973 "Modstox" racer, #314, and a rear view of the Mini-bodied missile, showing his proud membership of the numerous "Hatfield gang".
July 2010: another 1965 Brafield photo just arrived from Nigel H., showing #502, who is probably Mike Taylour [sic] from Rugby (Thanks Russ Thomas) although Bob Plowman from Bournemouth once had that number --- but in those days racers were in and out of BriSCA
Junior licences so often that you can't be sure. Anyway, as Pete
Tucker says in his book, you simply could not beat the 1960's Junior
10's for sheer fun and action and laughs and excitement, at little cost
and mostly no harm done.
February 2010: Here's a neat little motor --- the #687 body is narrowed
rather than the more common "chopped" treatment, and the June 1962
Brafield programme makes a joke of its incident. #687 was "B. Verrall"
from Hatfield.
February 2010: If you've watched ESPN, Speed Channel, NBC, CBS, etc, you have probably seen Derek Daly
presenting motorsports programmes. If you've followed
Indianapolis and Formula One GP racing (March, Williams, Tyrrell), or
F3 racing, you know that Daly raced internationally for over 17 years.
He now runs successful racing academies and motivational seminars, and
has authored a book. At the start of 2010, Rick Young took a
snapshot of a Daly presentation at a motor sports show in Canada
--- when Daly projected a slide of his very first competition car,
which he raced at the age of 16 in his native Ireland --- and here it is! April 2009: Juniors at Brafield from 1962, from of Trevor Richings [Rod Dore's mechanic].
Fearless Freddie Funnell 58 turns the corner while Eddie Cunnew's 727 flips in front of Fred's Hot Dogs. No wonder the crowds loved Junior racing: three rollovers,
and that's just what's visible in this shot; the 140 car going past was "Slick" Slater. You want proof of
the popularity of stock-car racing in 1962? Here's a full house
watching Chick Woodroffe's #409
get into a tire smoking spin. Quite a few drivers raced both
Junior and Senior cars, often under the same number; here is Rugby's Ted Elliott [cited as "Eddie"] in his upturned #444. John Miles in 672 was not left with much car to hook up, after this incident. Here is a distant blurry photo of Gordon Aucott, I estimate one second before he got a stiff neck. Lastly, a mystery photo, no names,
but it may be of Senior cars, and may be 1950's, as the one on the left
looks a bit like Leighton's Chrysler, but --- the rest look like skinny
Junior cars. Any guesses? March 2009: I'm not sure whether these are BriSCA F2's or Spedeworth formula cars, but the following two photos were taken at Ipswich in 1965. "Nev" Thompson enjoying a parade lap on his #50, and at a different date (with a bigger crowd) storming through a corner. Also, a snapshot of Neville's car on its trailer. Nev
Thompson was from West Dereham, Norfolk, and had earlier raced in
Senior F1's, and was a buddy of the famous Ron Pears from Wisbech.
Nev's Senior was taken over by his brother Keith Thompson, the
father of Tim who kindly supplied the info and photos. Keith held
the enviable record for rollovers from a ramp at Norwich.
May 2009: Thanks again to Tim Thompson for this newspaper clipping. The track is Kings Lynn, and the smiling promoter at the front is Chick Woodroffe
-- see the "WW" monogram on his overalls? The second "W" would be
Dougie Wardropper, who partnered Chick in opening the Kings Lynn track.
Two other definite identities are Ron Pears, second from left, scowling in his helmet, and Haley Calvert on the right looking mysterious with a drooping cigarette. The smiling man on the car's bonnet also has a smoke. The
year before, these chaps had been asked to pose by a photographer,
sitting on their cars, holding tins of Player's SUN VALLEY tobacco "for
a local magazine", but it appeared in a national daily's Saturday
edition. I believe the man on the far left is
Arthur Handley, and the smoking "mechanic" is NOT Dave Chisholm
but Dave's mechanic Charlie [thanks to Tony Kitchen and Dave Chisholm himself for that 2010 update] . For those who bought baccy and rolled their own, here's the trademark: TV commercial scripts for Player's Sun Valley tobacco: A man buys Sun Valley at a local
shop in the countryside. He rolls his cigarette and smokes it whilst following a
lane. Another commercial: A fisherman has a break by the
river. He rolls his cigarette with Sun Valley and smokes it.Thanks
to Russ Thomas, one-time "deejay" at Brafield Stadium,
some tasty shots of the Juniors in full 'wrecking' mode: Willie
Cowper #553 being rolled by dashing Dave Chisholm #552,
back in 1963. Here is one of Willie Cowper #553, enjoying
a quick puff while his mechanic dives into the car. Okay,
education time, thanks to Brafield's deejay Russ Thomas who knew
everyone: stock car racer Willie Cowper was descended
from the 18th century Northants poet and hymn writer William Cowper.
If you recognize the phrase GOD moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform, that's from a Cowper hymn. Variety is the spice of life or Monarch of all I survey? All from William Cowper poems 200 years ago. Sermon over, folks! Here's
a photo that Rick Young sent me years ago, which I just found again. Here are some of his mates'
motors in the pits at Brafield: Packed in the truck is the Tony Southam car
from Haddenham, behind it is # 625 John Gray from Oundle, and nearest
the camera is the stripey part-Renault 4CV car 773 of Mick Whitney,
another of the Beds-'n'-Herts posse. January 2009: Thank
you, Brian Clements. Brian is still in touch, 40 years on, with
F2 racers like Mick Whitney, Tony Southam and Kenny Horne. Brian
names the "waltzing five" drivers in the above photo as #500 Con Lambert [Lewisham], 689 Johnny Marquand [Saltash], and 735 Cecil Bennett [Millbrook]. Any offers on #528? In the Clements collection is this centre spread of an Abbey Stadium programme from April 1963, which shows Con, Johnny, and Cecil.
Also from Brian, the cover of Swindon's 1963 World F2 Final programme; and from its back cover, Chick Woodroffe
and Jock Lloyd coming together in fine style, as they did for so many
years at so many tracks. As Brian Clements says, the great thing
about Junior / F2's is that everyone, drivers and spectators alike,
felt it was "their" formula. Big headache coming for this nose-diving car, as # 206 hurries past; Walthamstow or Harringay in 1964. This Swindon programme from 1964, thankfully, gives all five names from a night-time race. Waiting for the flag
to drop in 1962 at New Cross stadium; 833 is Laurie Stott from
Beckenham, 714 is Brian Seynour from Southampton, 649 is Jimmie Weston.
This Lewisham SE14 oval,
adjacent to the fearsome Milwall Football Club, was for years home to
speedway, had a 26,000 capacity, and filled it to overflowing for
Britain's first stock-car race in 1954 (what an optimistic time that
must have been), it was sadly left to go derelict and demolished in
1975. Junior F2's at Hednesford in 1963, and spot the escaped wheel coming into the picture.. At Matchams Park nr Ringwood, Chick Woodroffe's distinctive # 1 car is one of the waltzing five , and 689 is Johnny Marquand, with #500 being Lewisham's Con Lambert; 1964 photo. As
I often ask on this site, let me know if you can name any un-identified drivers. Junior F2's galore! Below, Trevor
Richings sent scans of lively Juniors in action at
Walthamstow, Harringay, Brafield, New Cross, West Ham and Hednesford, from 1963-5. Harringay, with cars 230 Johnny Allen and 608 Dennis Pemberton; Car 518 at Harringay; Car 651 Ron Williams, possibly at Walthamstow; Twice in a row at Harringay in 1964, car 663, and 663 again here with #37 Don Evans; Car 674 Eric Taylor from ware in the pack at Walthamstow; More Brafield action; Jane Douglas, a USA visitor; Jane written up; February 2010: a 1964 Brafield programme photo of Jane Douglas, with a witty caption. Chick Woodroffe wins the WF semi final at Harringay, over Bryan Hinckley, 1965; Brafield Juniors; Even more Brafield Juniors; Brian Hinckley 606 does a flying attack on USAF racer Grant Ford at Walthamstow; Lambert brothers at Harringay in '64; Women racers being interviewed at Brafield in '65. More Harringay fun: 511 "D.Pakman" gets part-airborne, chased by what look like 627 (Howard White?) and 582 (Barry Moore?), and #616 (twin SU carbs poking out of the side) has attacked # 652's door. Who's going where? 662 Mick Avery chases 658 Don Blenkinsop one way while 681 and 567 head the other way. West Ham saw 716 (Datchet's Roy Clarke) sideways while 677 is heading for it. Alan Humphreys [see further below] has
donated such a large Spedeworth archive that today I am going to
select some of the most sensational --- fires and crashes, yes I know
this gives a bad image! Here we go: Turn on your speakers! If
you are a "YouTube" surfer you may have come across this
excellent 5-minute clip, from an early-1960's amateur cine film:
Junior F2 racing at Arlington Raceway. Let's see if the link works. The video owner has kindly added some trad jazz / boogie music to the silent film.Here's Brian Hallam #623 from Sapcote with some serious crash damage. (Scan thanks to Trevor Richings). Courtesy of Alan Humphreys (a ton of Alan's Spedeworth archive photos are 'stacked up' in my cyberspace waiting to be loaded here),
two shots of Barry Van Den Oetelaar's cars. Barry originally
raced Senior / F1's, but then moved on to both racing AND promoting
Spedeworth.
Barry 1 and Barry 2 (in that one it looks as though B. has two cars running). Side trip for
my BriSCA site, but these hot-rod photos are amazing. Doug Warner was racing a
stock car in the late 1950's, and was a regular in Hot Rods in the 1960's.
Hot Rod World Champion (1979) Gordon Bland has sent me these.
First is Doug in his 1963 hot rod. Gordon has rebuilt
that old car to perfection, and on a sunny July Sunday in 2008 Doug climbed
"back" in and ran some fast laps at Hednesford, even giving it some
opposite lock --- but then Doug is only 84 years old! Doug 1963. New Doug 1. New Doug 2 New Doug 3.
Gordon Bland was also
Chairman of the British Stock Car Racing Supporters Club in 1968/69, and
co-edited their magazine. January 2009: Ancient & Modern: Gordon Bland kindly passed on this photo of the late great Bill Morris and his son Martin, in front of Doug Earner's hot-rod (before Gordon's super restoration).
Although my website is nominally
a "BriSCA only" project, Spedeworth has been a major provider of top
class racing for decades, and many drivers competed in both 'circuses'
so I am going to select some of Alan's photos and link them here. Oops, Dave Hinde flips. Here's a VW Beetle # 618. Roy Wood carried # 82, and Malcolm Paterson 107 enjoys the sunshine at Racewall.
Yet
again it is "Thanks-to-the-Yanks" time. USAF
Alconbury Spartan team member Ed Bilak sends these seven photos
of Junior and Banger action at Brafield and Walthamstow. Ed
raced # 653. The digital dates you may see on the photos
are NOT from 40 years ago! Unknown Brafield
bangers. Banger
#664 at Brafield. Ed
himself in 653 at Brafield. Then come three shots of Ed in his 653 Junior at Walthamstow. One Two Three.
Corrections
invited: if anyone thinks the
"bangers" are in fact basic Juniors, please tell me.
USAF
veteran George Fennell who was based at Alconbury 1967-1970 sent
this great action shot of F2 Juniors on a sunny Sunday in 1969
at Brafield. Zooming past are Viv
Harper #713 in yet another Topolino [where
DID they find those Fiats?] from Wisbech, and Eddie Cunnew
#734. August 2010: Viv Harper climbs out of his high-perched car on top of Brian Priddle #696. Photo kindly sent by William Smith, who
lived in the same village as Harper (and Tony Wicks, and Ron Pears, AND
Haley Calvert ---- was there something in the Wisbech water?)
Here is #
661 (recognized
by Rick Young as Dave Wycherley
from Crowland, Lincolnshire), a bit daring in bare arms. FORTY YEARS ON, Dave Wycherley is back racing a replica
of that Topolino, #661, in the BriSCA Heritage series, and
his son races F2's as well.
USAF
racers: British stock-car racing benefited hugely from the participation of
US servicemen from the many air bases, especially in the Midlands and
East Anglia. Many are mentioned under the SENIORS IN THE SIXTIES section. Here
are some photos from Ed Bilak of
the Alconbury Spartans stock-car team. Ed, who was originally
from Pennsylvania, has kept some of his mementoes from 1965-1966 and
has kindly sent these: Kings
Lynn Poster; Brafield
Pass and Membership; another
pass. Here is Grant
Ford, who is also shown further down this page; here is Ron
Shomber; and here is a super group photo,
and the names are A2c Ed
Bilak, A2c Jim
Crye, A1c Clyde
Nichols, A1c Mark Thomson, TSGT.Ted Janes, A3cSSGT Grant
Ford, A3c James Sawyer. This photo was in the "Photogram" Alconbury
base paper from 11th March 1966. Thanks to Ed for this slice
of history.
More USAF: A big thank-you
to Aubrey Leighton's daughter, Carol Cockings, who gave me a ton
of terrific photos, including these of USAF flyer Grant Ford, from
the Alconbury base, who raced Juniors under # 664 in the 1960s and
who married Miss Brafield, now Maggie Ford. Below, at Brafield Grant gets spun in front of Fred's famous haute-cuisine dining experience:
Grant sits in
the fence. Mud splash. Grant
as a proud dad with
daughter Annette (Notice the Keith Barber logo on the car.).
Grant tries to slip through
the outside of this tangle.
Grant Ford is the sandwich in
this night-time crunch with Steve Bateman 676. Parade lap in
colour. And mid-parade,
facing the camera, at unidentified track.
Brafield
pile-up between 637 Reg Spragg and 370,
among others. (Photo
courtesy Carol Cockings)
Grant
Ford in a night crash
track and other car, anyone? Thanks
to keen-eyed Ian "Mac" McCarthy, who pinpoints both
the date and the track: Walthamstow Stadium in 1965
1st October to be precise and the 541 car entangled
with Grant Ford is that of blue-grader Brian Wilcox, a Cornish
driver. Mac
raced in BSCDA # 641, in Spedeworth #111, and Alwalton Superstocks
#33, and still has the Walthamstow programmes for that year
and that night. Two
more treats: from the 1960
STOCK CAR HANDBOOK, four years' results statistics; and a
LONG EATON programme from May
21st, 1960, listing four American racers from
Chelveston (it says "RAF" because the RAF actually owned
it.). Grant Ford with two very well-groomed gentlemen leaning against Grant's
#664: Chick
Woodroffe (left) and Jock Lloyd, no less. Grant rolls his
Ford Model Y while #689 [not
Bill Barker as previously labelled] leads
in his Topolino F2.
More gems
from Steve Farndon, [see more below] about
his father Sid Farndon's opening and promoting of the Tamworth
track. By
the way, Sid's older brother Tom Farndon was one of Britain's greatest
speedway stars, and rode for the Brandon Bees at Coventry. First, a historic document: in 1960 the BSCDA inspected the facility
and gave it this 100%
provisional approval.
Notice that Fred Mitchell was there to represent the drivers,
and Darkie Wright for the Control Board. Darkie raced
there in
1960, as did Ted Pankhirst and Pete Tucker, as well as Pat Willis #25
who was also Secretary of the BSCDA. Sid Farndon raced under #224, and
here is his licence
cover, and his signed licence
for 1961. Here is Sid Farndon himself, in the role of promoter, handing
over a trophy to a happy winner; but who is the winner? Steve F. thinks it may be "Chippie" Weston. Anyone
out there like to take a guess?
The
very first Junior (F2) meeting held, at Tamworth on August
21st 1960. Steve Farndon has sent these great photos. That day's programme, first
list, and second
list. CHIPPIE
WESTON, that name brings back memories! Then a terrific
shot of a cars
leaving the track; 123 is Les Wesley. Look at the chap on the bottom right -
you don't see many people dressed like that today at a stock-car
race. Then
a dramatic photo of starter
Jim Beet dropping the chequered flag. Jim was
later to be one of the very rare fatal casualties of racing. My
thanks to Steve.
In
the same month, two people have donated photographs of their fathers'
racing activities. First, Neil Walker, whose father Will Walker raced in Northern Ireland,
in County Down's CLANDBOYE STADIUM in the late 1960's. Clandboye
was managed first by "Barracuda Promotions" and then by Spedeworth. Not
only Neil's father but his uncle too raced there, and one enterprising
team was soldiers from Belfast's Hollywood Barracks, whose car had
real horns attached to the bonnet, and a "tail" of rope hanging
from the back; of course it was nicknamed
"The Bull". I will simply list the images by number and leave
you to enjoy them: 1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7; 8; 9; 10; 11; 12.
Roy
Andrews sent these excellent photos of his father, Harry J. Andrews,
who raced at West Ham in 1964, and who reached "red top" status. Harry
on parade; and then some shots of Harry in vigorous action: 1; 2; and 3.
Terry
"Chick" Henson raced this Junior at Brafield at the very first-ever Junior 10 event there; only two Juniors
were approved as being to spec., and the remainder were
quickly re-classified as 'Jalopies'. These two photos were taken
in
about 1960. Terry's nickname? "HEN + SON = CHICK" - the
promoters loved to cook up corny nicknames back
then. Forty-six years later,
here is Chick's
car; and another view. August 2009: More
from Terry "Chick" Henson, and very high quality photos they are too,
so thanks Mr Henson. Brafield in July 1964 sees Chick's 177 parked in front of an "ambulance" coach. In
the far right background you can see the white 301 Senior of Dirty
Dennis Burdett-Coutts on its trailer with its Austin Sheerline
limousine. Two years later in June 1966 Chick is running the popular Fiat Topolino body, here shown getting attention on the centre green (with Fred's Hot Dogs in the far background of course). Getting a nudge in turn 1, courtesy of #502. And here's fame for you: Chick Henson introduces sixties singer "Eden Kane" to the world of stock car racing.
 Eden Kane [born in India as Richard Sarstedt] topped the hit parade in 1961 with "Well I Ask You"
, and had several top five hits, toured with Marty Wilde, Joe Brown,
Helen Shapiro, etc. His career later continued in Australia and
then the USA, where he still lives. Star Trek fans may recognize
him as one of the pilots of the Starship Enterprise. His brother Peter
Sarstedt scored with "Where Do You Go To My Lovely?" in 1969, and
another briother, Robin Sarstedt also recorded songs. http://www.edenkane.com/index.html
Finally, a photo taken at Kings Lynn,
also in June 1966, where Terry enjoys the sunshine on a parade lap, and
if you enlarge the photo to look at the spectators --- suit jackets,
dress shirts, smart ties --- we were not a scruffy bunch in the
sixties when we went to the stock cars. Alan
Conway sent me this photo nearly 2 years ago, and it got lost in
my files since then. Anyway, Alan was Chissy's mechanic on
F2 Junior #552, and here is DC
well in the mix with 511 "D.Pakman" and 676 Steve Bateman. Thanks, Alan.
Thanks
to Rick Young for this action shot of Todd
Sweeney 531 at --- Brafield?? NO: eagle-eyed Alan Humphrey
has sent the next photo of the same
crash, taken from the other side, and the track is Arlington
Raceway in Eastbourne, date 1967.
John
Todd, # 631, used to build 'em, race 'em, mechanic 'em too. Here's John on
only his second outing (in 1979 ) at Brafield, having a turnaround. [Photo
from Paul Huggart's book 'The Complete Book of Short Oval Racing', 1980.] John's
first race, at Skegness, earned him one whole quid, for 6th place: the
prize wouldn't make you rich, but a 6th place in a debut race was
quite something. John also used to build F1 cars, and
mechanic'd for Alan Scothern for some years.
THE INSIDE VIEW: circa 1962, the interior
of a Ford E93A showing the driver wisely installed
in the centre, away from the right-hand steering wheel. And
a fantastic and lucky spectator snapshot of a rather nasty
F2 crash in the late 60's or early 70's: At this point I have removed a photo of a serious Chris Love / Eddie Cunnew crash
Below is an
S.C.N cover showing a pit-full of the little 'uns ready to rumble:
thanks to Diane Sutton (whose
late husband Aubrey Sutton was a long-time mechanic for racer
Jumbo Tustin), a
colourful and busy pits scene, from 1963. The
panoramic photo was actually taken by Pete "Pop" Christie,
at Walthamstow Stadium. Pete raced "Juniors" as #682, was
mechanic for Bill Barker #681, and later raced Spedeworth as #59.
He was everywhere, giving a helping hand and always "boosting" the
sport, and a regular columnist for SHORT CIRCUIT magazine. Pete
identified most of the S.E.London drivers visible below: 555
Nobby Lambert, 610 Ken Lambert, 643 Danny Bassett, 681 Bill
Barker, 230 Johnny Allan, 738 Frankie Wooster, 651 Harry Andrews,
and 629 Don Roomes who was not one of the S.E.
"bunch". Thanks Pete.
Pete Christie passed away in November 2008, and his obituary is here.

The
next two cars are strictly speaking too "new" for
my 1955-1975 site, but they look 'the business' just like the
old 'uns did, so here goes:
Ian "Mac" McCarthy's
beautiful "Superstox" car,
in a cutting from a magazine. Mac helped me with some info further
down the page. Don't you wish stock-cars looked like this
today
- classy, real, and sleek! Mac raced this at the Alwalton
non-BriSCA track near Peterborough. Here's another photo
of the
car, in the pits. [Photos
originally from Alwalton racer Brian Holmes, a never-quit
guy who raced into his sixties.]
This
relatively modern car looks so "sixties",
and its driver
looks like he's having so much fun, that I'm including it here
anyway. John Rigg was an Aycliffe driver (the "race
hard or go home" track), and
his car enjoyed Royal Mail backing. John
29, and Oops,
postal-code advice on his sump guard, for all to
see. John
tells me it has an Escort rear axle, in his words "-as
you can see" - , (now
we'll have fifty e-mails arguing which model year it
was, I bet )
Who
said "Bah, humbug!"? Well, this car was nicknamed the
Humbug, and you can just see the hacked-about Renault 4CV
body on Mick Whitney's # 773 at Brafield. Mick was one
of the 'usual suspects' from the Haddenham & District Stock Car Club. [Rick
Young photo]. [Memory
of 4CV's: When I was at school I did an 'exchange'
with a French lad, and it involved driving from Calais to
the centre of France with his family of 3 plus me squished
in a tiny 4CV with
its deafening rear engine.]
The
Champ: In 1966 Steve Bateman took
the F2 World Championship.
Thanks
to Allan Wardle for these photos of his father Albert Wardle's
car and career in the Scottish stock car drivers' association. Here's
an early
car, with Albert and friends. Here's Albert's very
tidy red-top, note the exhaust deflector. Membership
card. And a press
clipping that also mentions Pete Dent who of course
was nicknamed "Pepso" Dent (groan). Here's a victory-lapping Albert,
from a programe that predicted a 1964 championship win. Albert
raced at Ibrox's White City track, up against aces like Chick
Woodroffe and Jock Lloyd. For the meticulous record-keepers
and historians among you, here are some White City line-ups: first, second. These
shots from Allan Wardle, Albert's son. Incredibly,
fans could see cars like this E-Type
Jaguar,
back in 1964, putting in fast laps at great risk from that
track fence. Programmes reported that briskly-driven 10-hp Juniors could
often lap faster than such powerful but heavy GT cars.
Scotty Hewitt, a racer who competed against Jock
at Glasgow's White City track in the
"Junior" F2 class, before heading for sunny California. Scotty raced under
the name "G.G.Edwards", and one race is never-to-be-forgotten.
Jock Lloyd was already famous and respected, and Scotty deliberately
backed down the grid to start beside Jock, who grinned across at him
and called out to Scotty "SO YOU FANCY YOUR
CHANCES?" Jock waited half a beat before taking off,
and that enabled him (and the canny Scotty) to dodge the first turn
carnage. Here is Scotty .
Remembering 46 years on: "It
was the best thing I could have done. I learned so much
that night. I was right on his tail lap after lap, sticking
with him learning his line and the way he handled that
car. I saw that on occasion he would enter turn 4 a little
wider than I, so, I said to hell with it, and on the
last turn of the last lap, I stuck my S70 under Jock, and it lifted, as I knew it would, but it laid on Jocks
car all the way round, and I crossed the start finish a
foot in front of the master. In all the races I have run
since, and won, none have stuck with me like this one. Jock came to
me after the race grinning from ear to ear, shook my hand and said
"If you dont die son, youll be a hellova racer".
The story in [The Evening Citizen] said The "Zebra
Crossing" does four laps on 3 wheels, then wins the main".
Scotty
raced under the name "G.G. Edwards" because at the time
he was mechanic and pit crew for the legendary Ecurie Ecosse motorsport
team run by wealthy Scottish businessman David Murray,
who (true to RAC principles) strongly disapproved of stock-car
racing! Their
Jag D-Types won Le Mans in 1956 and 1957. Scotty tested
their Le mans Healey and their Cooper Monaco cars. Scotty
wasn't done with racing even after he emigrated to work at a California
Jaguar dealership. Over the years he has won five regional production-car
championships, and is chief driver instructor for California's section
of the SCCA. Who'd have thought 46 years ago that this Glasgow youngster
in a stock-car would later be rubbing shoulders with international
racing stars like Innes
Ireland and Stirling
Moss?
Bumper-to-bumper action against stock-car demons prepared Scotty for
this: He crewed at the Le Mans 24-hour sports car classic, and
tested this Cooper
Monaco (Coventry Climax motor) and this Austin
Healey Sprite,
whose little BMC four-banger pushed it to 120mph - but the
aerodynamics gave the Sprite so much lift at high speed that the front
wheels were too light to steer properly. Scotty's answer: pat the
brakes while at full speed, to lurch the car's weight forward and THEN
do the steering.
Ex-racer
Rick Young has kindly given me a scan of a White
City programme cover. White City programmes from
Rick Young's collection include these photos of Bill
Thompson, (the
programme shows Ibrox was full of Thomson's!) Jock
Lloyd (#131
same as his Senior), and a
crowded Junior race. Here are some notes from the
track and comments from Johnny
Hoskins. Lastly, two
lists (well here's the
2nd!) of drivers' names from 1962.
Thanks
to Pete Schafer for this historic photo. The
very first "Junior" formula race in early 1961 at Tamworth,
promoted by Sid Farndon. Sid had been chatting to Fred Mitchell
about the idea of a small cheap stock car formula, and Fred dug a
Ford 10 out of his yard, stripped it, locked the diff, and had Roger
Mortimer test it round Tamworth. (Roger was Fred's bro-in-law). Sid
Farndon gave the thumbs up, and
here is that car jokingly numbered 38 1/2 and painted
pink, ready for the first Junior race. Roger went on
to mechanic Mitsubishi's international rally cars. This
photo came from Fred Mitchell's daughter Pauline Holden (mom
to Jason "Hurricane
Holden" # 38 today). Sid Farndon himself
raced Seniors under # 224, and rose to red-top status and
contested the World Final at Brandon. Thanks
to Pete Schafer and to Syd F's son Steve Farndon for the
info.
Now,
yodel after me "I
remember You-oooo " and
tell me who sang it: Frank Ifield was not just a crooner,
he had raced stox in Australia, and here he is with his
F2/Junior.
Several
photos of Arnie Hawes 777, from
Arnie himself and also from programmes in the Rick Young collection. My
thanks to both. Arnie
was from Maulden, Beds., and for some unknown reason was
nicknamed "The
Mad Milkman" by Brafield's Graham Guthrie, who had a nuickname for everyone. Here's Arnie's 2nd-
place record in a 'consie' at Brafield [at
25%: enlarge it]. Arnie
in a pic of his car on
the trailer. Arnie's first
car, plus 'the kids', both of whom grew up to
race in the 1980's. Arnie
tells me that although the early Juniors were fun,
they were mostly out of control and frequently demolished,
and that the later cars were so much faster and easier
to handle. Heat
and final wins at Brafield got
these trophies,
with an ex-Dave Bunt car, 1980's. Arnie at
speed in the rebodied Dave Bunt car. And 'man
at work' on his 1300 crossflow Ford lump, Cosworth
pistons, dry-sumped, Holbay exhaust, steel crank,
roller rockers, twin Weber 45's 'the
business!' This next photo may
be from a Sunday Times supplement
article.
The
famous Pete Tucker loved the then-new "Junior" formula, which
made exciting racing possible at minimum costs to promoters and
drivers. Here Pete, the winner, is at New Cross stadium
(SE London) in 1962. Pete wrote and published the fascinating and entertaining THRILL OF THE CENTURY,
once out of print but now in 2010 available again. In 2010, Pete
is still up and about and busy with his company TUCKERS USA CARS, and
has a hundred rip-roaring stories of his racing days that'd make your
hair curl; Pete's a national treasure. February 2010: In 1962 at Brandon, Chick heads into orbit, while Pete Tucker 85 sticks to terra firma.
Keith
Barber: historian, builder, racer, journalist, publisher,
graphic artist, one-time Long Eaton track promoter, and 100%
stock-car devotee, snapped on his victory lap in his beautiful #422 Junior at Brafield,
early 1960's.
In 1998 Keith began fostering the "Heritage" movement, encouraging the building or re-building
of 1960's racers, and has completed a rebuild / creation of Aubrey
Leighton's 42 and Roy Goodman's Ford Pop, as well as his own
once-famous "little red rooster". Here's the cover
of Keith's 1971 book, WILD BILL
TO WILDCAT, a great potted history of the sport, which later
blossomed into the big book THE BIG LEAGUE. Both out-of-print
rarities nowadays. (Keith deserves chequered flags to this day,
in my opinion.)
Here
Keith Barber shares his trophy limelight
with Miss Brafield (Maggie Ford). Keith beside his controversial 686
car, which I believe he converted from a "pickup" to
avoid a rules ban. Keith has a big K on his overalls; notice
the grandstand tocket was 2 shillings back then. This shot
shows Keith in USAF flyer Grant
Ford's car. [Photos
from Carol Cockings] A
pits shot that I snapped of Keith B's slick little car a Morris: 422. Here is Keith B. in 1966, happy to receive the Essex Trophy from oh-so-smart Jock Lloyd. (Ken Mason scanned it.)
One of the
numerous "Beds 'n' Herts" stock-car crowd was Dave
Gibson #785, shown here a bit sideways on a wet Brafield
track. That unwieldy
corrugated-iron grandstand took a hike during a hurricane and spread
its bits all over rural Northamptonshire. It was absolutely
deafening under that roof when a pack of open-exhaust F1's came
out of turn 4.
Two
photos that someone sent me, and I forget who. Brafield's the track. In
the first photo, we see 519
Ralph Bruce helping a younger Dave Chisholm 552 , and in the second
photo Johnny Walker (no whiskey) in his tiny "Wildkitten" copycat
car chases 704 Pete Vincent from Bournemouth and the famous Eddie
Cunnew 734 from Keysoe Bedfordshire. And
another big thank-you to Dick Young for digging those names from
his archive.
A
1974 photo of the great Bill
Batten, with an unusual-for-F2 Beetle body (well, the roof
is anyway), at Newton Abbot [DY photo]
Maybe
the first of the
"special" Junior F2's, long before the Bill Batten-style aero-featherweights.
I put the stopwatch on Andy Webb when he practised with this little
bomb after the races at Brafield 1963/4; he equalled George Ansell's Senior
laps. This pic stirred memories for Brian Goodspeed, who told me
in summer 2000 that he was at that same Brafield meet and watched this little
screamer tear up the tarmac; anyone else see it? Remember
that these were only 1172 cc side-valve motors. Thanks
to Andy Webb, 40-something years later, for the following info on this
super little car. Andy backed up my comment elsewhere on this
site: nobody ever saw Fiat Topolinos on the road, but Andy and Ian
Durham found two side by side in a scrapyard in Bloxham. Steve
Bateman found one in a yard not far between N'pton and Brafield who
was scrapping them? The car in the photograph had been debuted
the night before, at Harringay, where its slick appearance drew so
many people that Andy could hardly get back to it after booking
in. [Which
is just how I remember the admiring mob at the pit gate as
Andy took it out for practice after the Brafield meet.] Andy
also mentions a bump-and-spin with Johnny Marquand's
car at Harringay which led to little 'exchange of
words' between them after the race --- which left them lifelong friends. "Great days" is
how Andy remembers the spirit of those times. Nowadays
Andy and Johnny beat each other at golf, as competitive as ever. Here's his buddy Johnny Marquand
# 689 celebrating
a win at Brafield (thanks to Alan Humphrey
for the correct number)(Carol Cockings photo).
This photo,
from a fan magazine, was sent by Dick Young, and I think I have pretty
much wrecked it with my computer. Brian
Jones, # 551, drove up
from Hockliffe, Bedfordshire to Brafield with this nice little F2
and found the fence.
Doug
Wardropper, when he wasn't busy being Senior (F1) World
Champion, could also be seen racing his Junior # 505, and his Spedeworth Superstox
#55 at Ipswich 1968. July 2010: Another photo of the Wardroppers' foray into Spedeworth 1968 in their identical cars; Doug is 55 and Alan is #500. I believe this is Ipswich. Photo from Gordon Bland. Dick
Sworder's
# 720 Junior on a dark rainy day in the Brafield pits. Want to see Dick in his booming Senior
car? There's a
shot of him in a monster four-car sandwich, in the Seniors
section. Forty years later his son Mick would
be winning too.
What an entrepreneur: promoter (West Ham, Arena Essex, several
more), smiling bespectacled pipe-smoker, invariably with a feather
in his hat, and racer of both Junior and Senior cars,
and proud wearer of # 1. Chick hit BriSCA in 1961 after a spell
in go-karts. Chick's Junior on
a parade lap at Brafield [DY photo]. Below: Chick's Junior #1 (he also raced as 409) is on the trailer at Coventry in 1965/66 while his big 'un down on
the left has come to race on Brandon's shale. 
Very similar photo
of Chick's two cars, and leaning on them is a
young lad who would himself race F1 and F2 cars: Dick
Young. Chick passed
away at the end of 2000, after a non-stop busy life racing and
promoting, all in the face of tough health problems. In
1964-65, when the M1 motorway was new, the road research boffins wanted
to test some safety fences and barriers, and wisely they asked Chick
Woodroffe to come along and crash into a barrier. Pete Arnold's
notes in Harringay's March 1965 programme say that Chick offered to
bring his big 'un or the Junior, and the scientists nervously settled
for the Junior. For a lark he first did a ram-and-roll-over, then
backed up 30 yards and charged and demolished the fence. I hope the experts learned something. February 2010: Chick Woodroffe #409 parades his 1962 championship trophy at Brafield. Don Roomes is driving Chick's car.
The
mad artist at work: This car's painter was years ahead of psychedelic
flower power: Ford Pop 1963/4
Two
friends enjoy the calm before the race, in Brafield's rural setting.
Number 724 is American airman Dick Hawkins of Houston Texas,
and 230 is Johnny Allen from New Cross, S.E. London. Two
Juniors
Dick
Hawkins trying to dodge a collision coming out of a Brafield
corner [DY photo] May 2010: Thanks to Nigel Harradine for this pits photo from 1965 of Texas racer Dick Hawkins, parked beside 606 Bryan Hinckley and 83 Tommy Keep.No
dents yet: Den
Rothwell's 722 Fiat Topolino-bodied Junior. Where
did all those Topolinos come from? We almost never saw them on the street,
but there were scores on the race tracks.
Alan
Russell #621 brightens the Brafield rain: Alan. Alan was from Toddington, Bedfordshire:
A
few years later, some before-and-after shots [by
Dick Young] that Alan Russell might like to forget: before and then after the
roll. Alan's brother
Ian Russell later raced number 38 in Formula Ones.
This
Triumph Spitfire was a different looker, compared to the Ford Y's
around it: Gordon Aucott
"Waltz
me around" Juniors mixing it up at Brafield #713 is probably "G.Worthington" from Romford. Notice
the steel I-beam ("RSJ") posts and steel cable fence
I suppose those bags-of-straw and old tyres helped a bit -? I still remember the sound of a car snagging its rear axle
on a post, at full speed: some cars ended up yards further on
minus the whole rear end.
Rick Young just throws that F2
sideways on the shale, going into a turn, 1977.
Rick
Young's F2/Junior car: two shots taken in 1977 in the Brafield
pits. First
shot , Second shot. This
car was built by Bedford's Pete Poole for Bob Boddington,
then went to #649 Geoff Dunsby, before ending up in the hands
of Dick and Chris Pickup. And you thought your
family tree was complex??
Could a bloke afford racing? For F2 stock
car, plus trailer, plus Hillman Minx tow car: £60 in 1976.
Brian
Holmes, two photos, only thirty (30) years apart! Action
at Rayleigh, 1971; and proud owner of a high-tech
machine today.
The
three photos below, courtesy of engine-man Mike Rust, are from
1968/69. Norman Ricketts from Haddenham, Bucks., was the
driver; he went from white to red top eventually in about 1971.
Car
#604 was an ultimate version of the old 1172 side-valve Ford. Mike
Rust built the motor, and sent me these slides. The body is
a cut-'n'-shut Fiat 500. 604
in the pits. The
special exhaust was by Janspeed. The engine: A racing Weber carb on a Janspeed manifold
nearly everyone had used SU's up to this point. 604
revved very fast thanks to a special cam: 8000rpm. It had rare and special Formula Junior (ie RAC circuit
racing) con-rods of super-hard steel that drove machinists
crazy. The head and flywheel were aluminum Aquaplane items, and
it used a Mini-based dry-sump oil system. They canted the engine
over at 15degrees to improve inflow. The motor parts were balanced,
crank hardened and ports "flowed". The valves were huge
Bill Cooper specials, and the whole thing was actually tuned on
the dyno rolling-road at Downton's in London! Bill Cooper was a top-flight Formula Junior racer who literally
wrote a book on tuning 1172 motors. Thanks
to Mike Rust for the technical data.
In
the drama below, the overturned car of Nigel Harradine 717 ---cont'd: 
--- had
been snagged by Norm's bumper and dragged all the way from the Brafield pits entrance
Nigel tells me that while upside down, the petrol
from his upside down tank was dripping 'down' into the roof, which was having a hole
ground in it by the tarmac. "Fairly
lucky escape, really" says Nigel. Nigel
retired in 1978, then retired again in the late 1980's,
then again, then raced in 2006, then raced again in 2007, and
this year 2008, the "retired" Nigel Harradine
expects to be out on the track yet again, under #97. This
is a happy man who does not know how to stop. August 2009: At Newton Abbot, in September 1971, we see Nigel Harradine's 717 parked. The photo was taken by Kevin Crabtree, and Nigel just acquired it. July 2009: The
unstoppable Nigel Harradine sends these photos of his 1975-built #3 car
with which he competed in the 1975 World Championship and scored wins
at Boston too. Nigel remembers it as "possibly my best car". It was
built to the then-new regs, and these shots were taken in 1976. One, Two, Three.March 2009: Nigel Harradine will be racing again in 2009 at his local Swaffham, under his old BriSCA F2 number of 717. "I
still heal prety quickly", he says --- this from a chap who was 20
years old in the 1971 photo above, and who had his share of broken
ribs, etc along the way. May 2009: "Harry's Back" was the title of Nigel's message that carried this photo him grinning and ready for action, 'only' 38 years after the crash photo above.
Also
visible in the original photo print are: 652 = Ken Horne, 773 = Mick Whitney (both Haddenham; Mick was an auto mechanics lecturer at Aylesbury
College); 650 = Roy (not Ron) Innocent of
Northants; 672 = Peter Baines (Lincs, and later the 3-Star promoter); 698, just
visible in the pits shot = Jim Welch (Lincs, later the Spedeworth
Superstox champ); 520 (man-in-the-window) = John Bush from
Raglan, Monmouthshire; finally, 717 = Nigel Harradine from Hatfield, Herts.
Still
more of the inexplicably numerous Haddenham bunch were Tony Southam,
Mick Penn (who mechanic'd for Tony S.), and Brian Baker (a BriSCA
scrutineer). Also, Bob Boddington whose F1 car was
196, and his F2 car was 596, and an honorary Haddenham club member
was F1 racer Dave Saunders #227 who actually lived in
Wendover! According to Mike Rust, the local saying was "The Bucks are from Berks and
the Berks are from Bucks". And they say cricket fans are fanatics for detail. Thanks to Rick
Young and Mike Rust for this mine of information.
A
Brafield photo taken in 1966: #707 is Johnny Sparks (I'd
pay to have a name like that.) and
611 is Nick Edwards, two racers who made the trek from Cornwall
to race their F2's. Dick
Young photo.
The
similar-to-F2
"Trackstar" machine of Dick Willows, lurking in the back yard.
Dick built the car with racer Pete Prince, and raced at Boston stadium, Lincs. (Photo:
Paul Durham). Dick Willows began as
spanner man for racer Peter Prince, and went on to completely self-build this
car: Prefect front with Corsair discs, Minor rear with welded diff., and a
full-house 1000cc Ford circuit racing engine from Alan Scobie topping
out at 9000 rpm, it was a bit peaky for oval track combat! Dick later moved
onto rallying.
|